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Topic: Surveillance       Comment here.       Comments so far: 0

Real saints

The non existent readers may have noticed we are not fans of religion. When you look beyond the assertions at the actual statistics there is no evidence that it improves human behaviour even one iota and faith-based dogma is an impediment to rational law. The ner will not be surprised to know that saints do not mean a lot to us although there are three exceptions.

The first two were the obscure 12th/13th century St. Raymonds. We had great delight in choosing Raymond as our given RC confirmation name because when we turned up at the altar with it written on our card the Bishop had never heard of them and the entire proceedings were halted while the parish priest scurried off to check if there actually was a Saint Raymond. A small but satisfying victory. It was not relevant which Saint Raymond we were named after although if we had to, we would choose St. Raymond Nonnatus as he made a better job of annoying Muslims.

The other great saint was our namesake St Francis. Like many Christian figures of that time Francis of Assissi also spent a lot of time annoying Muslims, although it is obviously his supposed love of nature that makes him our favourite. Being charitable to wolves, preaching to little birdies, communing with flowers. Time much better spent than on charitable works for the poor, being nice to poor people only encourages them, there are way too many already.

PS That bit about talking to plants sounds a bit like our very own Prince of Daftness but in his case he is just a horrible exploiter of plants encouraging growth for commercial reasons. Our sources at Highgrove House tell us that he shouts abuse at his Broccoli for hours at a time while the unfortunate plants are being beaten soundly by footmen.

If I knew you were coming

It is generally accepted that the Bible is a collection from many sources and that there are different possible interpretations because it is permitted to analyse it. Most Christians do not regard the differences as crucial to the core principles of their faith. On the other hand, such in depth scrutiny of The Koran and especially questioning of its origin is taboo. Some assert that significant passages have been mistranslated, that suicide bombers may be blowing themselves up in return for, not 72 virgins, but 72 raisins. Hilarious if true. Assuming the rest of the paradise bollocks was true obviously.

One key ingredient used by Islamic terrorists in home made explosives, both here and in the US, is flour. Maybe the bombers should take a bit extra with them. When they get to heaven hoping for all the physical passion that their miserable creed has denied to them in life and all Allah hands them is a packet of dried fruit, at least they can console themselves by baking a nice cake.

Deep purple - The Cut Runs Deep

With bloggoth lyricy thing

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Equivalent action. Not.

A new year and the Islamic foulness carries on as before with 21 dead and 70 injured by a suicide bomber in Egypt.

The Egyptian President has said that the bombing was "an attack on all Egypt" and that "terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim". Oh really? It seems to distinguish rather well as it always appears to be the Copts who are the victims; if there are terrorist acts by Copts Google does not seem to be reporting them.

The pro-Islamic argument here states that the tension was caused by two Christian women being prevented from converting to Islam in order to divorce their husbands. If these women were not allowed to make a free choice about their faith and forced back with abusive husbands against their will that is indeed appalling although that version looks extremely questionable if the details of this Catholic source are accurate as seems very possible given Islam's long history of abductions and forced conversions. It even goes on in the UK.

One source says one thing, one says another. Who knows for sure? Let's say the Islamic version is correct, in what way does it justify the random murder of 21 people? This is the act of a barbaric faith.

More improvements on a poor design

We always wonder how animals survive in this weather although they do have some useful adaptations, like the ability of birds to fluff up their feathers. We could use something like that. Given how liposuction works it would seem that fat deposits in the body are concentrated in layers beneath the skin, the outer layer of which is largely dead tissue.

There must be scope here for improving body design. Why not suck out the fat and spray some non stick stuff inside so it leaves an inflatable space beneath the skin? We can blow it up to insulate us if we get stranded unexpectedly without the necessary winter clobber on, if things turn unexpectedly chilly at your naturist ski resort perhaps. The only other things we need are some suitable inflation points.

Things not to do in a crowded street

We at bloggoth seem to be immune to this thing called flu, not sure we have ever actually had it, nothing as bad as people complain about anyway. All the same, we don't go out of our way to catch it. There was some fat twat in Halfords sneezing and sniffling on Christmas Eve right next to the phone chargers, so we held our breath, grabbed the one we wanted and pointedly walked to the other end of the shop to look at it.

These are scary times. If you fart loudly on the tube always mutter Allahu Akbar afterwards. If you are walking down the high street and can't stop a sneeze then immediately shout OINK! OINK!. They can't touch you for it.

Good idea

The Arsebishop of Canterbury has been urging the rich to share pain with the poor during the downturn.

Good idea. Just think of all the homeless in London in this freezing weather, hundreds of them could be accomodated at Lambeth Palace. Let's have a soup kitchen in the state drawing room instead of using it to lavishly entertain royalty and popes and foreign dignitories. It's the queens' speech later and I daresay she will issue a similarly heart-warming appeal to look out for those less fortunate than ourselves. Since she will be spending Christmas at Sandringham there will be lots of room for the homeless at Buckingham Palace.

Bishops, royalty, rich ex PMs, pop stars. Wouldn't these exortations to the rich or to the rest of us to show more charity be a lot more effective if they did not mostly come from vastly rich and often state subsidised people who appear to do very little sharing themselves?

Discriminatory laws cited as evidence of enlightenment

Various promoters of Islam on the net quote these world rape figures as evidence of the civilised nature of islam and its respect for women. Wow, yes! Look at how Saudi Arabia is right down the bottom with by far the fewest number of rapes. That really does show what an enlightened social system Islam is doesn't it?

Unfortunately, for comparison of crime statistics to mean anything, the crime has to be defined in a similar way in each country. The victim has to feel able to report the crime and the law has to investigate it and prosecute the perpetrator. In Saudi Arabia and some other Muslim countries, acts that would be prosecuted under rape laws in those Christian countries are not prosecuted at all. When prosecutions are brought it is almost impossible for a women to prove and she is very likely to end up being punished herself. According to this article on the BBC world service:

... in Saudi Arabia, a women's testimony in court is worth half that of a man's testimony, according to a Human Rights Watch report in 2002.

Along with reports from women's rights groups, the most reliable source is the US State Department's pages on human rights. This is what it says on rape in Saudi Arabia:

The government ... did not recognize spousal rape and does not criminalise domestic violence.

According to the law, if a man rapes a woman, she is viewed as being at fault for illegal mixing of genders and is punished along with her attacker. Statistics on incidents of rape were not available, but press reports and observers indicated rape against women and boys was a serious problem.

As for Yemen, third from the bottom, women are treated little better than animals, wholly owned property of a man, often married off at twelve, subject to arbitrary arrest if they don't comply with whatever men want. You think rape statistics are reliable in a country like that? It isn't just about poverty either:

When Yemen was two countries, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, in the south, was a Marxist state with the most feminist constitution in the Arab world. But when reunification with the nationalist Yemen Arab Republic took place in 1990 and was followed by a civil war four years later, it was the north that emerged as victor. Unity was strengthened, but sharia became the basis of law-making.

Saudi law is not alone in requiring that rape be proved by two or four male Muslim witnesses and punishing a woman when it is not proved or even punishing her equally when it is. A short search of that US State Department site and women's rights sites shows the Maldives, Pakistan, Mauritania, the United Arab Emirates and Iran have similar laws. In other Muslim countries like Bangladesh, the equality provided by the law is not observed in practice. Women are marginalised, treated as chattels and subject to huge level of abuse. Laws usually do not exist with regard to spousal rape or domestic violence and when they do there is often no action taken. Local shariah applies arbitary punishments to women for alleged offences against decency.

We have found one Islamic country, Oman, that genuinely provides equal rights for women (and non Muslims) but so far it appears to be very much the exception.

Here's a tip. If you ever see a statistic that seems to show Islam in a positive light, check the facts behind it, it is probably a lie.

Update.

Nope! That's it! According to the USDoS, Oman is the only Islamic country where there is anything approaching even our own imperfect standards for equality of women. Even the best of the rest (Algeria) does not come close. In many of these countries domestic abuse, rape and harrassment are commonplace and spousal rape is almost never a crime. These things are common to poorer non Muslim countries where traditions relegate women to subordinate roles as they once did here, Ghana for example, but there are additional factors in Islamic countries that follow directly from the beliefs of Islam and the attitudes they foster and are found in even the oil rich states.

Wives may be obliged to seek the husband's permission for things women can freely do elsewhere. They can face impossible legal odds proving rape or other abuse due to shariah laws. They frequently find their allegations are ignored and they are returned to their abusers. An offence of rape can be negated if the perpetrator marries his victim and the latter are often pressured into it to avoid shame. Woman can face imprisonment for being raped or for getting pregnant as a result.

They are discriminated against in other areas too, being entitled to only half the inheritance of a man, having fewer or no rights over divorce and custody of children. This is the reality of Islamic "respect" for women.

Update 2.

More on the disgusting realities of rape in Pakistan.

Clever little god

Pope Grandpa Munster has said that God "often surprises us" in the way he fulfils his promises. Indeed, like praying for somebody to recover from an illness but he/she dies anyway but is doubtless rewarded in heaven, much better. Or pray for peace and we get endless conflict but it all strengthens our resolve and brings us nearer to god in the end.

What you get bears no more resemblance to what you pray for than might be expected from statistical probability but that is all part of his infinite wisdom.

And his angels

There was once hope that Britain would be freed from religious dogma and have practical laws based on the needs and aspirations of normal human beings but the sense of the nation appears to be slipping away. An online survey reports significant belief in guardian angels.

Nearly one in three Britons believe they have a guardian angel watching over them, but Scots remain the most sceptical. The research showed the London region had the highest levels of belief in angels at 40 per cent, compared with 22 per cent in Scotland

Wonder why? Nothing to do with this or this obviously.

England absorbs virtually all net migration to UK, MPs warn

Between 1991 and 2007, more than 2.1 million migrants were added to the population of England, which last year became the most crowded major country in Europe.

The nation has taken more than 20 times more migrants than Scotland, even though it is only ten times the size in terms of population.

There has been an extraordinarily rapid change in London's population over the past ten years. In the period 1993-2002, 606,000 more Londoners moved out of the city than came to it from elsewhere in the UK. In the same period a net 726,000 immigrants arrived in London. ... The effect is a rapid increase in the ethnic minority composition of some boroughs, resulting from an outflow of the white population and an inflow of African and Asian international migrants.

The adventures of James Bondage

Thought so

We could never understand how the ethnic makeup of the UK could have undergone such enormous visible changes given the official population statistics. Now the truth is provided by the right's favourite bete noire, Polly Toynbee, writing on constituency changes:

It is now abundantly clear that the 2001 census missed millions of people.

One best estimate of population comes from sewage: Thames Water says the outflow of rich or poor alike reveals true numbers – and Slough has 30,000 more people than officially registered. Bagley fears census-takers will have little time to check the estimated 3,500 houses in multiple occupation, or the estimated 2,500 living in unregistered sheds in gardens illegally let out, unlikely to return forms in the 56 languages they speak.

Meanwhile, the bloggoth search for the benefits Islam brings to the UK go on. We know there must be many, we are told so. One big advantage, surely, is that Muslims don't drink so at least they won't have the liver problems the rest of us do. Oh dear, incidence of alcohol related admissions to hospital about the same as the general population and need for liver transplants 50% higher due to hepatitis, mostly caught on visits to South Asia.

• alcohol-related hospital admissions
• Organ transplants
• Hepatitis

Quite

We have seen The Centre For Social Cohesion described as an arm of the sinister Bilderbegers. We can't find the reference now but the fact that we can't find it surely proves the allegation was true. Those giant lizards are adept at burying reports they don't like.

We have also seen it described as anti-Islamic. When serious organisations which research their reports are described in that way it usually means they are telling the truth about Islam. The Centre accuses that the government has repeatedly failed to tackle the problems out of a misguided sensitivity. In an article on the Stockholm bombing The Independent has a quote:

In an article for the Wall Street Journal on the decision to compensate Jihadists in Guantanamo its leading lights were bang on too:

Much too sane. Where's the hammer?

Hard to think of stories these days. We used to be a lot more imaginitive, where's it all gone? According to New Scientist those who have suffered damage to the left side of the brain, associated with processing language, were significantly more likely to think up original ideas. Not sure we are convinced by that, what about Lewis Carol, Arthur Machen or Stephen King or any of the millions of other authors of wierd imaginitive tales who also managed to write great prose?

We will probably not be bashing half our head in with an axe just yet. Our own theory is much simpler if much more boring. People become boring and unimaginitive because they are overwhelmed by utterly boring things, like filling in tax forms, looking for a better rate on their bank account, ferrying bloody relatives about or chasing up sodding useless builders who are supposed to be building their conservatory. Then there is the sheer amount of time one's brain spends worrying about the world, the economy, the government, the EU, immigration, the Islamic threat etc etc.

Maybe great authors are just better able to clear their minds of all this distracting crap. They would not have written a thing otherwise.

News? What news?

We at bloggoth manage to avoid being depressed by the weather forecasts by watching them on BBC South East. The lady weather forecasters they have are so chewy that they we would not notice if they were predicting hurricanes and biblical floods.

Today we looked at the news online as usual but could not tell you a single thing that has happened. Every paper, including the local ones, seems to have a banner at right advertising a woman's underwear company LA REDOUTE, showing a succession of extremely scantily clad botties. We go through the motions of getting up to date with all the horrible things that are going on the world but we only have eyes for the scantily clad botties. Is everyone seeing this or is it one of these clever Google things where it picks up your interests and selectively feeds you the material you want? Will it soon be that case that any Google search, any click on a link, will simply feed me masses of pictures of ladies' botties?

Suits me, who wants to know the news anyway? it is uniformly depressing.

Were we better off with a tribal society?

Two million years of progress since the stone age but has anything really changed? At times it seems that all we have done is redefined the nature of tribalism. Nations and political groupings of nations are tribes, they are just a lot bigger than they used to be. They are also further away but technology, the global economy, fast transport and mass migration overcome that little problem, the modern tribe can threaten without living next door.

Tribes exist in other ways too but instead of being geographical they are based on wealth, education and belief. The elite, including those who claim to be socialists, have no affinity to the working man and have no concept of the problems that he sees as a result of their grandiose schemes and ideals. They see no problem with immigration or the EU because those of other countries that they encounter are part of their own tribe, the educated elite, and they take all the benefits. The wealthy business owner profits from cheap third world labourers, the ordinary man has his neighbourhood changed beyond recognition and suffers the third world crime and practices that the migrants bring with them.

Numerous mutually hostile tribes exist throughout the world - left, right, anarchist, Christian, Muslim, atheist. All that has changed is that they are no longer confined to distinct geographical areas and have far more capacity to inflict harm on each other. One cannot read a paper without seeing another example of the continual war these tribes are waging in the corridors of power, on the streets, in the press and in cyberspace.

Maybe multiculturalism isn't such a bad idea. Add in a decent global catastrophe that destroys civilisation and we might get back to the simpler and saner Britain we had before the Roman conquest when you and your neighbours were fellow tribesmen with broadly the same allegiances and all your tribe needed to defend itself was ditches, spears and arrows.

Hey! He's back!

A little while back I mentioned that the Great God Sod had deserted me. Now he is back with a vengeance.

I was determined to make my writers' club today having missed it last time but then I got a note through the door that my van had been damaged by somebody attempting to steal next door's truck. Got onto the insurance company and a man from the appointed garage ran back a little later to say he was in the vicinity, could he come that afternoon? No 2 son turned up at last minute, some meeting with the registrar about his wedding, and needed the missus to run him in so she would not be around. Ah well, missed the club again but at least I would get my van sorted promptly. Then it suddenly snowed like fuck and the bloke rang to cancel when he was about 20 minutes away.

Welcome back great one, I have missed you.

PS It's a bit crap but the story is here.

Jolly decent of them

Coven member HMRC is Shite was posting about the deadline for filing tax returns so I checked just to make sure it was still Jan 31st and the bastards hadn't sneaked it forward like they did with the Corporation Tax payments.

directgov tells us that reasonable excuses for not filing on time include "the death of a partner shortly before the filing date - you may need to show that you'd taken steps to prepare the return before this happened"

So if your partner is dying of cancer don't let that little thing put you off getting most of your return done, HMRC may want to see what you have filled in if he/she pops her clogs in the last day or two. If he/she goes more than a week or two before the submission date that should leave you plenty of time to get over it and submit your return. If you do leave it to the last minute and he/she is inconsiderate enough to have a heart attack while you're at it, make sure you finish your submission before calling 999, you might get fined otherwise.

Nature

There are so many variations and there seems no obvious reason why mankind functions in the way it does. Just imagine if evolution had taken a different turn and we fertilised in the way that plants now do.

Illegal porn

We at bloggoth don't care, they can't catch us. Here for the non existent readers is some illegal category 3 pornography.

If anyone would like some full category 5 for their ZX81 just send £50 to xoggoth Towers.

Never knew that

Previous song mentions Pierrot and Columbine. I always thought it was Harlequin and Columbine. Actually it was both, they come from the Harlequinade a sort of early pantomime and poor old Pierrot got usurped. Harlequin would magically tranform things by slapping them with a stick, hence the term slapstick.

Back when music wasn't crappo the bear

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Damn. Missed it.

Beats me why people watch these awful reality shows, Big Brother, Srictly Come Dancing, X Factor. If I was forced to choose I'd prefer to watch crappy soaps or football.

However, I do wish now I'd watched the "disgusting" X Factor Final with lots of scantily clad dancers showing their bottoms. We at bloggoth can never get enough disgusting, especially when it's bottom related. They should have a prime time TV show called The Disgusting Show featuring The Disgusting Dancers and hosted by Miss Disgusting Huge Bottom in which the object was to compete for who could do the most disgusting things and offend the most viewers. The winner would be the one who caused the most complaints to OFCOM.

It would do kids a world of good, maybe they would grow up as normal human beings instead of miserable religious preaching, interfering, nonsense-believing, bomb-planting nutcases.

Tolerance. It must be!

A pre-Islamic Christian site has opened in the United Arab Emirates. Naturally, the very existence of this only pre-Islamic Christian site in the area is hailed as an example of Islamic tolerance. Of the "Pay your dues, keep your head down and be quiet" Islamic variety anyway.

On the other hand, the site was abandoned in 750, still relatively early in the poorly documented history of Islam in that area. Maybe it would be relevant to enquire why.

"Education, education, education" True words from a liar

We lost our own dominant position over a hundred years ago but parts of this item on the coming demise of the US as the world's greatest power are relevant to our own continued decline. The most telling paragraph in our view is this one:

Add to this clear evidence that the U.S. education system, that source of future scientists and innovators, has been falling behind its competitors. After leading the world for decades in 25- to 34-year-olds with university degrees, the country sank to 12th place in 2010. The World Economic Forum ranked the United States at a mediocre 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly half of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are now foreigners, most of whom will be heading home, not staying here as once would have happened. By 2025, in other words, the United States is likely to face a critical shortage of talented scientists.

Tony Blair's mantra was right even if his approach was the nonsense you would expect from a British Socialist; he spent large amounts of our money on a simplistic and ineffectual attempt to end inequality, not just among our own but among any from the rest of the world that could make its way here. We can see the legacy of this attitude in the student protests because too many see higher education as a right regardless of how little their own expensively acquired skills might contribute to Britain's future prosperity. These students tell us my own generation, which paid much lower fees, had it easy but the fact is that one thing was a lot harder for us, getting into college or university in the first place. In 1968-9 there were 410,000 full-time students in Great Britain, while in 2008/2009, there were around 3.4 million. *Note

I feel sorry for the able but poor students but they are not paying for previous generations who mostly paid more than enough extra in taxes to pay for their education; they are paying for the presence in higher education of huge numbers of fellow students who really should not be there, those who will make no extra contribution to the UK's future prosperity. If they cannot repay their fees over a working lifetime, they are also clearly not benefiting that much themselves.

To return to Blair, I said British Socialist because true socialist states do not seem to make these mistakes, they certainly do not in China. The Chinese encourage pride in achievement and competition for university places is fierce. When they overtake the US that will be a major factor.

Note: The increase is not explained by that in practical vocational courses due to the decline of apprenticeships. The number in universities alone was 1.97 million in 2007, nearly 5 times the total 1968-9 higher education figure in the previous link.

My god, my god! Why hast thou forsaken me?

Not your ridiculous Christian/Muslim/Jedi/whatever god, I mean the REAL god, the only god whose law demonstrates his existence every single day of our lives, THE GREAT GOD SOD!

Even those idiots who are not believers in THE GREAT GOD SOD will know his LAW. He and his invisible demon minions endlessly contrive to annoy us in in very minor things. The GREAT GOD SOD does not dispense cancer, make your wife unfaithful, get you sued for libel by major companies or inflict HMRC tax investigations on you, rather his law inflicts you in annoying little ways umpteen times a day. You have seven people for dinner, you can only find six matching plates although you know the set should have eight; you get invited to a party and it is on the same day as another even although you hardly ever get invited to anything, you need six large rawplugs for a DIY job, you can only find five,

That's how THE GREAT GOD SOD's law should run but WTF has been going on in my life? We had a new carpet fitted recently and decided to use the bits left over to carpet the upstairs hall and make a runner to avoid everyday wear and tear. Almost every bit plonked down fitted right in as it was. Today we rearranged the garage to accomodate the missus's new freezer. Everything just fitted in; Freezer width + workbench width = available space - 0.5cm.

Every DIY job we have done for the last six months, large or small, everything is just the right length/width/height/diameter. Not just DIY either. We turn up late at the gymn and the car park is full BUT one person is leaving just as we arrive. A string of unsynchronised traffic lights and each one turns green as we approach. We plan to drive miles to the garden centre to buy some fat balls for the birds but just happen to pop into the new ALDI for something and lo, they have cheap fat balls, although we have never seen them on sale there before or since. It's like that episode of Red Dwarf where Lister gets infected by the luck virus although the non existent readers will note that my luck is much more tedious.

This has now been going on now for six months. It should be great but it seems too good to be true. We can't help wondering if some punishment is looming. Some big bad misfortune to cancel out all those very minor fortunes.

Yes, but

The ethnic nature of our town, like everywhere else in the South East, is changing at a frightening rate. About 5 years ago you hardly ever saw or heard anyone who was not white British, now blacks, South Asians and Far East Asians are everywhere and you frequently hear foreign language in the street. The area is heading the way of South East London where I was brought up, which, apart from the Brixton area, was white when I left there 28 years ago. Now, in some areas like Streatham, you would hardly know you were in Europe. My RC primary school was totally white British, as was the state Primary about half a mile away. Now the descriptions of the two schools on findmyschool begin:

• "Three quarters of the pupils represent British ethnic minorities, mostly Black Caribbean and Black African" and
• "The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is very high. The largest groups of pupils are those from Black African and Black Caribbean backgrounds."

Some insist that ethnic origin is not important. The practical facts about human nature and the way people think tell us that is not entirely true but it is certainly the case that, when major groups of the migrant community confer real advantages, our perceptions are much more favourable and our concerns are minimal, one never seems to see concerns expressed about the legal Sikh, Hindu or Chinese communities. Unfortunately, reliable non-racist sources show that the contributions of some other major ethnic groups from poorer countries to be very negative. The descriptions for these schools continue:

• "Increasing numbers of pupils come from households with high levels of social need. Just above average numbers have learning difficulties and/or disabilities." and
• "The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals is well above average. The percentage of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well above that found nationally"

There are some promising signs in the Afro Carribean community but other groups are going backwards. Stats for Pakistani/Bangladeshi Muslims in the UK from the Office for National Statistics and other usually reliable sources show they are almost four times over represented in the prison population, more than twice as likely to be unemployed, over three times as likely to be in age standardised poor health and over three times as likely to need social housing as the groups needing the least. The cost of anti-terror operations to counter threats, stated to be primarily Islamic in nature by former Home Secretary John Reed, has risen to £3.5bn, up £1bn in 3 years. The burden on the rest of us is expanding fast due to a population growth rate that is ten times higher.

There is no conceivable way that these can be positives for the UK and it is high time the immigration "debate" was based on reality rather than pious pretence.

• Prison
  
• Welfare, unemployment, qualifications and health
  
• Employment
  
• Health
  
• Social housing
  
• Cost of fighting terrorism
• Population growth

Snow and religion

Ghastly day spent shifting patio slabs and pot plants and shovelling snow thanks to getting ready for Missus bloggoth's sodding conservatory to be delivered tomorrow. An occasional break on CUK where one of the usual fundamentalist atheists kicked off another atheism vs religion argument.

There really are some illogical ideas around. A common one is that showing evidence of the truth of some parts of the bible or other religious text supports the religious ideas it espouses. It does not. There are several facts to be considered:

Anyone who wants a story to be taken seriously will make it as credible as possible and will incorporate real facts into it.
Take the film "The Mummy". How effective would the film have been if the mummy simply popped up in the desert with no explanation as to who he was or what happened to him? The storyline of a man who is entombed alive after cuckolding the Pharoah draws on historical knowledge and the Pharoah in question was actually a real person. That does not make the story of a mummy returning from the dead true anymore than the existence of Transylvania proves the existence of vampires.

What comes down through history is self selective.
Those who believe in the religious tales have an interest in passing them on but people do not generally write down experiences that they thought were of no significance. Say two men met the prophet Muhammad. One believed he had met a man of great wisdom who spoke with Allah, the other nodded politely and went off muttering "what a nutcase". Which of these encounters is going to be passed on in the Haddiths?

A story may be believed because the teller is extremely charismatic, manipulative or convincing.
Plenty of intelligent people believe Ron Hubbard's version of his life story although commentators outside Scientology say he polished and invented to further his own ends. Assuming the story of Moses ascending Mount Sinai is true we only have his word for it that he spoke to god. Maybe a charismatic Moses convinced others that god had given him the ten commandments to bolster his status as leader, that would not make his story any more true than some of Hubbard's.

We know little or nothing about the story tellers and their motivations.
So how do we know they were reliable and impartial? A fraud wanting to claim influence as a prophet would use those who could make a persuasive case on his behalf. Were some writers of the Haddiths or the Biblical texts simply the paid publicists of their time? Did men of influence support the fraud because it suited their purposes?

Stories change over time to bear little resemblance to the basic facts
We can see that with the Arthur Tales. A few minor references in old Welsh poems got transmuted to the story we know today with round tables, holy grails and magic swords. Of course there were floods in Biblical times and maybe there was even a man called Noah who built a huge boat. That doesn't mean the rest of it isn't total fiction.

Texts are deliberately altered
There are numerous versions of Christianity and Islam and changing religious views mean deliberate alteration - there have been very different versions of the Bible. The religious are often seeking proofs for a sacred text that bears little relation to what was originally written. Strangely, the text remains the immutable truth despite numerous mutations.

Enough people repeating the same thing is taken as proof
We see this happening today with conspiracy theorist blogs. 9/11 was a setup by the US government and a link to another blog page advancing a rather weak argument and referencing other blogs proves it. When we see enough sources saying the same thing we assume there must be some truth in it. If a historical reference bears out what is in the bible is it evidence of the truth of the bible, or could one have copied from the other? Could it even be that both have the same fictional origin?

Link

We were intending to comment on Assange's arrest, the whole thing utterly stinks. Mr Sheep has saved us the trouble.

Convincing

We have always had a problem with parts of evolution - how did it work when small changes in the process had no obvious advantage in themselves and how did it explain very complex evolutions, for example the snake with a slow acting diuretic venom that tracks down its prey by following the scent of urine? This video deals effectively with the less obvious mechanisms of evolution.

Inspiration according to Bradbury

xoggoth can't think of a story for his writers' club and wants us to come up with some ideas. He suggests we can get inspiration from just looking around the office like Ray Bradbury says he does in the introduction to The Ray Bradbury Theater on the Horror Channel.

Ok, mankies - what have we got?

Or the desk lamp secretly wants to be an office chair for some reason?

Or a nice risque love story about the mouse mat falling in love with xoggoth's coffee mug while the mug mat fancies the PC mouse and they are all secretly shagging each other but in the end they all find out and have a foursome?

I'm not sure this is working, perhaps we would get more inspiration in the shed.

Hey yeh! We could do a story with boxes of old screws spying on bits of wood that xoggoth kept cos they might come in handy or crusty old paint brushes planning to take over the world or something.

Good grief!

Corruption is everywhere

Who would be remotely surprised if dodgy deals are behind the FIFA decision given the nature of Russia and the presence on the executives of third world members? Corruption is the norm in countries with relatively new forms of government and in the third world, just as it used to be in the UK and other Western countries. Our superiority in this, as a result of more affluence, better laws, an independent police and judiciary and a freer press, has evolved over a long period and is only relative.

Sometimes corruption in the West isn't recognised for what it is. It seems Boris Johnson has withdrawn the offer of a free stay in London's exclusive Dorchester hotel for Fifa executives during the 2012 Olympics. What? So he offered them free accomodation at the UK's most expensive hotel during a major event that had nothing to do with football on condition they voted for the UK? WTF do you call that if not corruption? If we want choice made only on the quality of the bid then, beyond the necessary accomodation and hospitality during the presentation, the FIFA rules should state that nothing whatever should be provided for officials however the provision is used. Corruption should not have to involve an official personally benefiting. Even if money is donated to some worthy cause, that is still deceit, secretly influencing votes in a way that has nothing to do with demonstrating the quality of the bid.

This quaint view that corruption is only about "honest" bribery blinds us to the extent to which it exists in the West. Despite the expenses and cash for questions scandals, the lining of pockets that goes on in most Western nations is small beer in comparison with, say, that in Western Africa but political corruption, the flouting of the principles of democracy and freedom for narrower interests, is still rife. Politicians lie. They hide, filter or distort the truth in pursuit of their own ideals and obsessions. They waste public money on projects which are shrines to their own vanity. They rig elections by pandering to minorities who control the outcomes in marginal seats and heed the lobbying of big business or other narrow interest groups who fund their parties. Our "free" press avoids some investigations or asking too searching questions of the establishment lest their access is curtailed.

In all the deluge of legislation imposed on the rest of us it is a pity there is never time for any that might give us real democracy, provide real scrutiny of our laws and our law makers, define what the duties of public service are, set limits on the rewards for it and, most important of all, set the severest penalties for those who break the rules.

Update: Now it is being denied that a free stay was offered to FIFA. So why did the BBC specifically say "Boris Johnson has withdrawn the offer of a free stay". If the stay was not free, what exactly is it that has been cancelled? If being able to make a booking through London 2012 was a facility only granted if we got the World Cup that is still bribery, it's just a bribe of less value. We are now being told that London 2012 has not decided on allocations, so where did this news story come from in the first place? We will probably never know and have to be content with this "explanation" that explains nothing whatever. Corrupt politicians, corrupt sports bodies and a corrupt press. They are in it together.

We cannot keep pretending about the nature of Islam

Yet again we have the "liberal lefty" BBC being outspoken about the nature of Islam, this time on the case of a Christian woman who was sentenced to death for supposed blasphemy in Pakistan. On a major item on the TV last night they made clear that the blasphemy law is frequently used just to settle scores and conviction is not necessary, an accusation is enough to get the accused and their families killed.

Attacks on Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Ahmadhis are commonplace in Pakistan and increasing. Attacks on and discrimination against Christians and Hindus and Ahmadis are commonplace and increasing in Bangladesh too, that country's reputation for moderate Islam is well in the past. Moreover, this is not simply about attacks by radical groups, the authorities turn a blind eye or are even complicit.

Both countries are Islamic states and whatever little tolerance there is bears no resemblance to tolerance as we define it and which Muslims expect from us in the UK. Non Muslim citizens in Pakistan are not able to lobby for the laws they want, to participate in government to the highest level, to build churches and temples as easily as Islam can build mosques or to celebrate their faith openly and they do not have equality within the judicial system. Obviously there are no laws against offence or even hate speech against their religions. In practice, if not yet officially, Bangladesh is little better and the slide to a fully Islamic state appears unstoppable. The tolerance in these countries is on a par with that of Moorish Spain that is always quoted as a shining example of Islamic enlightenment by its apologists; you might be ok (in between major massacres and expulsions) if you do what you are told, follow your own faith very, very quietly and don't expect to have any significant say in society.

After seeing what happens to the rest of us in these Muslim countries from which our own Muslims mostly come are we are seriously supposed to feel happy at their fast growing presence in our midst? It is irrelevant to say that many are successful and don't believe in Shariah as that is presumably true in Pakistan and Bangladesh too but it doesn't stop these things happening. If we keep taking in people from those countries without proper controls and keep allowing them to identify more with those countries than with Britain then logically we are going to get a minority population that reflects all the unacceptable attitudes and practices of those countries. There are reasons why Islam is increasingly viewed with hatred in the UK and the main one is that we are not total idiots.

If the government had any sense it would:

• Halt significant immigration from that part of the subcontinent, especially ending the ever open door created by marriage. Introduce far tougher rules (with proper proofs) and require all spouses and other dependents to be self supporting or fully supported by the marrying UK citizen without any recourse to additional welfare or social housing.
  
  
• Control travel to and from the region to stop the extremists attending terror camps and stop money being sent out to fund extremist groups. Rigorously exclude all extremist preachers and take steps to reduce funding from Saudi Arabia and others.
  
  
• End faith schools or ensure there is adequate monitoring of all Islamic ones. Have compulsory citizenship courses to include principles of democracy and equal rights for all including those of all religions and regardless of gender, sex orientation etc. Do not allow any teaching which runs contrary to them.
  
  
• Enforce all laws equally and with total detachment. It is quite absurd to give special treatment on grounds of race or religion and then call it anti discrimination. If people want to make their own arrangements to settle disputes without recourse to law that's fine but we should never give any official recognition to Shariah. We should stop turning a blind eye to law breakers purely because of cultural sensitivities and failing to tackle crimes like forced marriage.
  
  
• In employment law we need to be much more even handed and get away from the idea that it is the duty of employers to cater for the religious scruples of their employees. People should make their own sacrifices for their faith, not expect others to.
  
  
• Stop wasting money on supposedly moderate Islamic groups who favour Shariah and have dubious connections and, in liason with allies, do everything possible to shut down those extremist sites.

Yes, we do need positive steps to help Muslims in the UK too but opposing those attitudes that are completely contrary to our own values and raising the poor perception of the group by reducing the fears people have would do more than anything else to help the able and decent ones. If things carry on as they are the government may find that EDL marches and mosque attacks are merely the start and, human nature being what it is, we won't bother to distinguish.

Free speaking lessons

It seems that David Cameron spent £66,000 on TV coaching by Obama's body language expert. What a shame he did not consult we at bloggoth. We have spent a very long time studying Obummer's speaking techniques and can now release this video for free. All those who want to be world leaders would be well advised to study it.

Image by Center for American Progress Action Fund from Washington, DC
(Barack Obama at Las Vegas Presidential Forum)

PS Note that if you have a mole by your nose or other noticeable facial mark this should jump from side to side in the manner shown. This indicates flexibility and a capacity for achieving consensus between left and right.

Remembered for what's important

A noticeable problem of ageing is the tendency of everywhere, except your head, to sprout lots of hair. The missus commented on my eyebrows this morning which I have not mown for a few weeks. I don't recall having to trim my eyebrows when I was 30. Anyway, shaggy eyebrows, who springs to mind for those of us old enough to remember them? Dennis Healey, former chancellor and George Woodcock, former TUC leader. Can you remember anything else about them, a single speech or action? Of course not but we do remember they had huge eyebrows.

What did Rastputin actually do that was significant? Dunno, but he had piercing eyes and took a lot of killing. Who was Marie Antionette married to? Dunno but she made a comment about cake. (or was that Margaret Thatcher?) Put dates and places to the military victories of Julius Caesar. You probably can't but you do know he shagged Cleopatra. Ditto General Kitchener, erm, but he did have a huge moustache and pointed at you from posters. Mahatma Ghandi? Something to do with independence for India wasn't it? And he always wore a blanket with bare legs and had silly little glasses. Disraeli? He was Jewish and very dapper. Even Winston Churchill is remembered as much for being a portly cigar smoker and heavy drinker as he is for leading us to victory.

The lesson is obvious. If you want to be remembered it is not enough to make an impact on human society, you have to look odd, have some eccentricity or do something out of the ordinary even if that means ridiculous. If David Cameron wants to go down in history as a great Tory leader he needs to start looking for that memorable sound bite or that physical absurdity that takes our mind off the tediously reasonable speeches.

Big mistake

It seems they are to retire the Andrex puppy in favour of a digitised dog. I rather think they are losing sight of the main idea here. The value of a light coloured puppy in an advert for toilet tissue is that it has a very noticeable arsehole and craps all over the place while still being totally cute. It is a stunningly clever way of getting us to think well of the unnaceptable. Will it be the same in a digitised version? I doubt it.

If they must replace the puppy maybe they could use a nice fat lady instead. We at bloggoth could never get enough of a nice fat lady with a very noticeable arsehole who craps all over the place.